A light in the flame

Nyktos’s mouth closed over mine, stu

His lips moved against mine, hard and wild as traces of midnight and smoke flowed out from him in thick, rising tendrils. They rose over our legs and curled across my lower back. The icy touch was another shock, reminding me of the night in my chambers when he’d watched and then touched.

I clutched at the front of his shirt, the edges of the brocade itching against my palms as the throbbing in my chest intensified. Silvery light sparked from my fingers and was snuffed out by his shadows.

Nyktos was stopping the embers, not in a way I had foreseen but in the same ma

And he kept kissing me.

We stood in the courtyard of the dead and dying, but we couldn’t have been farther away from it as his mouth and tongue traced mine. I relaxed into him, shuddering as his fangs nicked my lower lip, drawing just a hint of blood that he licked away.

He didn’t stop kissing me, not until the power invading my blood retreated and the embers calmed, still thrumming but manageable.

And still, he drew from my lips. His mouth danced over mine until a different kind of heat flushed my skin, coaxed forth not from the horror of the courtyard but from how I responded to him. No matter where we stood. No matter what I had seen him do. No matter how unwise this was.

A throat cleared.

I tensed.

Nyktos’s lips slowed against mine. He took his time, gentling the sweep of his tongue and the press of his mouth. When he finally lifted his head, and my eyes opened, the shadows of eather he’d called forth had disappeared.

His gaze met and held mine. There was a question in his stare. Was I in control? I thought so now that I knew what surrounded us. I gave him a small nod.

“So strong. So brave,” Nyktos murmured, sliding his fingers from my hair. He dragged his palm along my cheek as he said in a louder voice, “Is there a reason you’re interrupting, Attes?”

Thank gods it was Attes and not someone else, but that relief was short-lived. Attes likely suspected that I was not as Nyktos had presented me, and none of us knew what he would do with that information.

Calling on the bravery Nyktos had spoken of, I looked over my shoulder and saw that the Primal wasn’t alone. A dark-haired male stood beside him, face painted with golden wings.

I blinked as that painted mask stirred memories that I couldn’t quite latch onto. The twist of the unknown male’s lips was nothing like the amused smile on Attes’s, but I kept my eyes on them, not allowing myself to look anywhere else because I knew what I would see.

“It wasn’t me who interrupted,” Attes replied, arms folded over his armorless chest. He jerked his chin to the one who stood beside him. “It was Dyses. I was enjoying the show.”

The spark of energy radiating from Nyktos was as cold as my cheek was warm against his palm. “You really are bound and determined to lose those eyes of yours, aren’t you?”

Attes chuckled. “Worth it.”

I watched the Primal of Accord and War raise a dark blond brow as Dyses stepped forward and bowed. Pale blue eyes looked me over as he rose. The god lifted his chin. “His Majesty is currently holding Court and isn’t yet ready to receive you,” Dyses said, his voice carrying a heavy lilt that reminded me of the Lords of the Vodina Isles. “Others are in the atrium. I will escort you and…” He cleared his throat. “Your mistress there.”

I blinked once, then twice.

Attes ducked his chin as he dragged his hand over his mouth, failing to hide his widening smile.

“And how long will His Majesty be occupied?” Nyktos asked as he dropped his hand from my cheek and moved so he was beside me.

“He will join you when ready,” Dyses replied, his pale gaze flickering over me.

“I’m sure he will,” Nyktos all but purred as frustration scratched at my skin. “And she is not my mistress. She is my Consort.”

“Only if His Majesty grants such a title,” Dyses corrected, his lip curling as he eyed me. “Until then, she should realize that she’s in the presence of her betters and bow.”

I stiffened, realizing I should’ve done that the moment I’d laid eyes on Attes. Though I had a feeling Dyses was more offended that I hadn’t shown him respect. Swallowing my a

“You will not,” Nyktos said quietly, stopping me with a hand on my arm. His eyes briefly met mine, and then he turned to Dyses. “My soon-to-be Consort will bow when she’s in the presence of those deserving of respect.” His lazy smile set off warning bells. “But until then…”

Nyktos shadowstepped, appearing behind Dyses in the span of a heartbeat. There was no warning. Dyses’ chest simply exploded in a spray of hot, shimmery red-blue blood.

I jerked back out of instinct, hand going to my thigh where the dagger was strapped, but then I saw Nyktos’s hand.

My gods… Nyktos had punched his hand straight through the god’s back—through bone and tissue.

Nyktos jerked his hand free, and he was…he was holding a fleshy, reddish-blue lump in his palm. Dyses looked down at his chest, his mouth gaping.

“You will bow before her.” Nyktos’s fingers closed over the heart, destroying it in a burst of silvery eather.

“Fuck,” Dyses rasped, falling to his knees.

Then to his face.

I stared at the bloody, jagged hole in the center of Dyses’ white tunic, then slowly lifted my gaze to Nyktos.

“Well,” Attes drawled. “That’s either going to a

“Probably the latter.” Nyktos knelt, using the god’s tunic to clean the blood and gore from his hand as his gaze rose to mine. “I did not like his tone.”

“Neither did I,” I said hoarsely, finding my voice. “But that was, maybe, a little excessive.”

There was nothing to discern in the hard, striking lines of Nyktos’s face. “He was testing exactly what I would allow when it comes to you.” He stood. “He failed, and others will know.”

“I have a feeling there’s going to be a lot of heartless, dead gods by the end of the day,” Attes remarked, glancing at me. His smile returned. “Their blood will match your lovely gown.”

“As will yours if you keep looking at her that way,” Nyktos warned, stepping over the fallen god. “I assume you were waiting for our arrival?”

Attes appeared unfazed by the threat. “I was. Hoping you’d arrive soon, since you are, by far, better company.”

“That’s not saying much.” Nyktos folded the hand that hadn’t been inside another god around mine. “Was there a reason?”

I looked down as Nyktos led me around the fallen Dyses, hesitating as I stared at the god’s hand.

“Sera?” Nyktos glanced back at me. “Someone will retrieve him.”

“It’s not that,” I said, having sworn that Dyses’ hand had twitched. But that was impossible. Gods, unlike Primals, couldn’t survive without their hearts. However, I hadn’t felt the embers responding to the god’s death either. Knowing I couldn’t share that at the moment, I shook my head and frowned. “It’s nothing.”

“He doesn’t feel right, does he?” Attes said, drawing my attention. He lifted his gaze from the god to Nyktos. “Dyses always felt…off.”

“Yeah,” Nyktos murmured, the corners of his lips turning down. “But none of Kolis’s servants have felt right, have they? Not in a long time.” He continued staring at the god, his head tilted. “I sense no…soul.”